Mercury (Hg) and methylmercury (CH₃Hg) are found at trace levels in most marine waters. These species, particularly CH₃Hg, then ominously bioaccumulate through marine food chains eventually reaching potentially harmful levels in top oceanic wildlife. Accordingly, it is important to measure and evaluate uptake at environmentally relevant concentrations where trophic transfer initiates; during uptake in primary producers, and consumption by plankton grazers. Experiments using cultured copepods (Acartia tonsa) and field zooplankton assemblages were performed with two different sized diatom species labeled with stable isotopes of inorganic Hg (²⁰⁰Hg) and CH₃Hg (CH₃¹⁹⁹Hg) at different concentrations. We observed size-specific effects on algal uptake and transfer to copepods, in addition to effects of Hg species concentration. Prey size effects were likewise observed on copepod assimilation efficiencies (AE). Average AE of ²⁰⁰Hg for copepods feeding on smaller diatoms was 50%, and 39% for larger diatoms. The AEs were much greater for CH₃¹⁹⁹Hg, yielding 71% for the smaller and 88% for the larger diatoms. These experiments add evidence demonstrating a significant relationship between Hg and CH₃Hg exposure concentration and subsequent algal uptake and transfer to zooplankton. Furthermore, results imply that facilitated uptake of CH₃Hg into algae occurs at low (~pM) concentrations, which has been suggested but not confirmed in previous research.

在大多数海水中发现痕量水平的汞 (Hg) 和甲基汞 (CH ₃ Hg)。这些物种，尤其是 CH ₃ Hg，然后通过海洋食物链进行不祥的生物积累，最终达到对顶级海洋野生动物的潜在危害水平。因此，重要的是测量和评估在营养转移开始的环境相关浓度下的吸收；在初级生产者的吸收和浮游生物食草动物的消费期间。使用培养的桡足类动物( Acartiatonsa ) 和野外浮游动物组合进行了实验，使用两种不同大小的硅藻物种进行了无机 Hg ( ²⁰⁰ Hg) 和 CH ₃ Hg (CH ₃ ¹⁹⁹ )稳定同位素标记。Hg) 不同浓度。除了汞物种浓度的影响外，我们还观察到对藻类吸收和转移到桡足类的大小特异性影响。在桡足类同化效率 (AE) 上同样观察到猎物大小效应。以较小硅藻为食的桡足类动物²⁰⁰ Hg 的平均 AE为 50%，较大硅藻为 39%。CH ₃ ¹⁹⁹ Hg的 AE 大得多，较小的硅藻为 71%，较大的硅藻为 88%。这些实验增加了证据，证明 Hg 和 CH ₃ Hg 暴露浓度与随后的藻类吸收和转移到浮游动物之间存在显着关系。此外，结果表明促进 CH _{3 的}吸收藻类中的汞以低 (~pM) 浓度发生，这已在先前的研究中提出但未得到证实。